This week, Rai Jordan is joined by Paria Saremi. Paria is the case monitor for Iran for Lawyer’s Rights Watch Canada, is the Director and co-chair for the Civic Association of Iranian Canadians in North Vancouver, and a recent law graduate currently pursuing a career in Human Rights and Public Interest Law.
Rai and Saremi discuss the proposed internet legislation bill for Iran, what it would mean for Iranians if this bill were to be imposed, and how it will further harm freedoms within the country. The proposed bill would block Iranians from accessing the internet outside of national borders. This would mean that services like Google, Twitter, Instagram, etc would be unavailable to Iranians within national borders and would thereby create a wall of silence for Human Rights harms within the country. The new bill is being called ‘Draconian’ by many and would allow the Iranian government impunity when engaging in Human Rights violations like arbitrary detention, disappearing of civilians, unlawful killings and more. The two also discussed the history of Human Rights in Iran and shed light on the amazing strides Iranian people have taken in fighting for their rights to freedoms.
If you want to keep up with Pariam Saremi’s work, check out:
Global Rights Defenders is a non-profit dedicated to advocating alongside marginalized, displaced, and vulnerable populations. Through podcast interviews, youtube videos, and articles, GRD aims to shed light on human rights issues worldwide.
In December 2021, Global Rights Defenders did an interview with Annabel Symington, the Head of Communications, Advocacy & Marketing for the World Food Programme, Yemen. The Podcast title is Yemen Needs Your Help.
She stated that Yemen was one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and that it was “embroiled in a war that has gone on for over 7 years” which has led to a “severe hunger crisis”. She continued to explain there were two main drivers behind this humanitarian crisis:
The conflict – forcing people to flee, displacing them, and relocating them to other cities or makeshift camps.
The economy – As of December 2021, Yemen faced rapid hyperinflation, deteriorating currency, and unattainable food prices. As quoted by Symington “Food prices have more than doubled in [2021] alone and are now 300 percent higher than they were before the conflict”.
Yemen is now referred to as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Since the war began in March 2015, Yemen and the Yemeni people have been suffering.
The global pandemic put serious strains on the humanitarian and international development sectors. Currently, 95 percent of Yemen’s overall needs are imported leaving a heavily reliance on the supplying countries[1]. In Yemen specifically, funding for humanitarian programs were cut when the need for food was at an all time high. Because of the ripple effects from the stifled pandemic supply chain, food was not only expensive but difficult to come by.
Symington continued. Of the 13 million people the WFP is helping, as of January 2022 the WFP was forced to cut food rations in half per person to feed the 5 million who were at the highest risk of food insecurity. “We had to take from the hungry to feed the hungriest”. “What if we don’t’ address the root cause issues” Rai asked, “Well hunger will continue to spiral” Symington replied.
This brings us to the war in Russia… How is it Affecting Yemen?
The war Russia imposed on the Ukraine will likely worsen the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. 30-40 percent of Yemen’s wheat imports come from these two countries[2]. Internationally, wheat prices have increased by 25-30 percent[3], and with Russia’s blockade on Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea the global supply chain, and Yemen specifically, will suffer[4]. Since planting season is already here, and many farmers are unable to engage in farming practices due to conscription, displacement, and instability, it is unlikely to return as a major agricultural exporter for 2022-2023.
Donor sources are becoming scarcer. Many countries are turning their attention and fiscal backing to support efforts in the Ukraine. This includes modes such as defense, refugee assimilation, transportation, food, and other forms of aid. Although 36 countries pledged funds to support the Humanitarian Response Plan in Yemen in March 2022, this was the sixth consecutive year it failed to be fully funded[5].
To recap:
By December 2021, donor sources in Yemen were weakened
Food was difficult to access due to increased prices and lower supply rates
Due to the Ukraine war, it now faces even higher food prices and decreased access
In 2019, Iran proposed what will hereinafter be referred to as “The Protection Bill”. This bill seeks to ensure all internet activity is controlled within national border lines, will increase controls in an already stringent and globally isolated country, will limit the user’s free access to information, and put Iranians at risk of total loss of freedoms[1].
But how did it get to this?
Since 1979, Iran has struggled to maintain a consistent government. It has seen multitudinous transfers of power, often exerting oppressive modes of control. If there are any individuals or groups that dissent against the residing regime, it will in return execute, disappear, arbitrarily detain, systematically oppress, torture, harm or severely impose threat to them, their loved ones, or their affiliated organizations[2].
This has included protesters, civil society representatives or organizations, those who support Western or Imperial ideas, political prisoners, and those belonging to a certain religious group such as the Baha’i[3]. Iranian government officials have gone through extreme lengths to maintain control. In 1988 for instance, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, (religious decree) to establish the Tehran Committee, otherwise known as the ‘Death Committee’. Its purpose was to execute members of People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran [PMO/MEK] as moharebs (those who war against God) and leftists as mortads (apostates from Islam). Amnesty International has estimated between 4,500 – 5000 were killed during the time of ‘Death Committee’[4] but as many as 30,000 political prisoners, including children, were executed[5].
One of the four named members of the Death Committee, Ebrahim Raisi who was “pivotal in insuring that [thousands] were execut[ed] in a matter of weeks[6]”, was elected as Iran’s eight president in June 2021. Though these mass executions were documented by The Center for Human Rights in Iran, Amnesty International, and other groups as a crime against humanity, the scope of the massacre and tractions in imposed penalties or holding the Iranian government accountable did not transpire until Raisi was appointed head of Iran’s judiciary in 2019. In 2019, the US imposed sanctions against Raisi, and in 2020 the UN issued a report demanding more from the international community to hold the Islamic Republic accountable[7].
The situation for human rights in Iran has progressively worsened over time. Suppressions such as banning free speech, imposed dress codes, closure of human rights facilities, and legally sanctioned manhunts through fatwa’s have become the norm. Yet in 2019, the magnitude of the situation become inconceivable to ignore. Protests erupted over fuel price increase on November 15, 2019 and lasted for a week. The protests materialized “into a broader expression of popular discontent with the government’s repression and perceived corruption”[8]. In response, from November 15 – November 19, the government imposed the largest internet shutdown in the country’s history[9] and “embarked on the most brutal crackdown against protesters in decades”[10].
This protest was unique in the way technology was used for organizing events of political dissent. On the ‘waze’ app, people were instructing community members to leave their cars parked in the middle of major commuter roadways to create mass roadblocks and incite public gatherings[11]. In the past, the Iranian government used bandwidth throttling to deter people from using the internet, which meant the internet would be kept on but would be made too slow for productivity. Due to the sanctions imposed by the US on Iran in 1979, large companies like Google and Apple are unavailable to customers, therefore creative means for organizing and communicating have transpired through other more locally transmitted apps.
Internet Bill
In July 2019, the Iranian government proposed The Protection Bill. This new bill will “limit user’s free access to information, weaken the government’s role in cyberspace decision making, and make the ministry obsolete[12]”. Iran’s internet structure is based on two principal entries known as exchanges. These exchanges are currently connected to the global internet and are controlled by the government. Though services like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube have been banned in Iran since 2009, internet users are able to access these sites through VPN’s. Professionals like entrepreneurs, journalists, civil society activists, students, and more rely on these outlets for personal and professional development.
In 2021, legislators were forced to temporarily shelve the legislation amid backlash from business groups and internet users “warning it would harm online freedoms[13]”. An online petition calling for the legislation to be scrapped has garnered close to a million signatures. Yet in February 2022 a meeting with 19 lawmakers, which was later overturned, seemed to be in favour of the bill. After the controversial meeting was deemed invalid for taking place outside of parliament working hours and guidelines, voting and reviewing of the bill has been delegated to a specialised committee who would have the power to ratify and “experimentally” implement legislation[14]. Proponents of the bill maintain its designed to “safeguard the population from harmful content on the internet and support local businesses[15]”. Ostensibly, this does not seem to be the case.
Human rights organizations and activists are purporting such control over internet and communications access with full impunity commits serious human rights violation[16]. For instance, human rights organizations have documented “gross violations of human rights and crimes under international law” from Iran’s security forces[17]. The internet bill will increase ease of censorship, decrease transparency, and threaten those speak out against the country.
The international community has been able to monitor Iran’s use of internet through third parties like netblocks.org which show Iran’s internet droppage on exact dates and times. We need to continue to monitor Iran’s use of the internet, and check in with local communities to ensure human rights violations are not exacerbated. The blockage of the internet will enable a wall of secrecy and put those living within it’s national borders at serious risk of danger.
To help support Iran:
Tweet out #IOpposeTheProtectionBill, #ProtectionBill,
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